Monday 19 October 2015

OPEN PLATFORM_5 04 April 2014 at Access Space - Performances


RAP(s)- Random Access Performance(s) - TwT.hashbangbinbash -x

Starting with a bang! OPEN PLATFORM_5 welcomed Pixelache Network to Access Space:


OPEN PLATFORM/RAP -
Platform selfie by Richard Bolam
Pixelache Network is an international network of cultural organizations engaging with art, technology and social change. Access Space is the UK hub of Pixelache Network and recently completed the larger EU Grundtvig supported project Open Sourcing Festivals in collaboration with other Pixelache Network nodes. The project concluded with Do It Anyway Festival which Access Space presented in May 2015.
Last year, from 03-05 April 2014, Access Space hosted artists, curators and cultural producers from Finland, Iceland, France and Norway when representatives from project partner organizations visited Sheffield for the first time.




Richard Bolam - Platform Announcements


OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:
Richard Bolam/Platform Announcements
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

"This is OPEN PLATFORM_5  ... Please stand well back from the platform!"




Opening OPEN PLATFORM_5 Richard Bolam delighted us with an imitation of automated announcements at train stations and on trains.




"We apologize for the late running of this event. This is due to the wrong kind of snacks." 



Liz Hall - Motherboard

" ... The job of the motherboard is to relay information between all components. Information is passed through electrical connections. Put simply it is the central circuit board of your computer ... A 2003 study found that spurious computer crashes, such as I/O read/write errors and screen distortions can be attributed not to faulty peripherals or software, but to ageing capacitors on motherboards. Despite the fact that it is important to have a good motherboard it will not necessarily increase the overall speed of your computer, none the less it is important to have one that is both reliable and stable as its role in the overall performance of the system is vital."

OPENPLATFORM/RAP: Liz Hall/Motherboard
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

Combining text, gestures and movements Liz Hall's performance 'Motherboard' looks at the central role of the mother image in computer terminology, and the correlation with the intimacy of human relationships. 


James Price - Stream II 

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:
James Price/Stream II
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer
"Basically I'm talking very very very fast for ten minutes ... the internet ... materiality of the internet ... does the internet have a materiality ... does it have MATERIAL, is it something that is performative or is it something that is real ... the people around me are completely real, the internet is full of real people, people are the material of the internet ... you hope they are real, some of the things on the internet may be less real than others ... we should not think of the internet as a tool ... we should think of it as a material that we actually shape and form ... it defines the way you go ... it is a place of theatre, I can no longer forget things because if I do they are there on the internet ... it changes you as a person as material ... we are the tools not it, it is not a tool ... you need to make stuff and do stuff ... you will be better off for making stuff ... the new things we can carve with the material of the internet ... You - make stuff! ... Has anyone used any hair products probably advertised on the internet at some point of another? ... MATERIAL! ..." James Price 


Jake Harries/Paul Newman - Fluctuate Excitement ...


OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:
Paul Newman/Fluctuate Excitement ...
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer
Jake Harries' current practice is based around using spam emails as raw material for composition and performing. For OPEN PLATFORM_5 he teamed up with Paul Newman to present the world premiere of Spam Theatre! Playing to a packed out 'house' the two actors performed a dramatic and passionate (spam) script, hamming it up Shakespearian-style - trying to get you to buy viagra!











On-Off Trio: John X. Moseley/Susanne Palzer/Kate Sicchio - OptionX - A Pseudo Script


OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:
On-Off Trio/OptionX-A Pseudo Script
"To switch or not to switch? Lots of UNIX commands have options. (They are also called switches because you switch the options on and off by typing or not typing them when you type the command. ...) Options make commands both more versatile and more confusing. ..."
(Unix for Dummies, p43)










On-Off Trio/OptionX -Performance Script
On-Off Trio presented a sound piece that as a project stayed close to the OPEN PLATFORM_5 theme but at the same time added the human factor by taking liberties with the language system of computing. Performing a pseudo script which opened with the hashbangbinbash -x command  - that allowed the audience 'to watch the script run' - the three performers executed binary shell script (1/0) with analogue switches (click/no click).

On-Off Trio are John X. Moseley, Susanne Palzer and Kate Sicchio.



The Facebook album for OPEN PLATFORM_5 is here.